March 2018

News

Reinventing transportation can’t be that hard
For a long time, the wind power industry had no interest in energy storage, because it was much more lucrative to feed the power generated directly into the public grid. However, the end of the 20 years of guaranteed feed-in payments for the first turbines in Germany is in sight. Because of this, operators and … Read more

Interview with Reinhard Christiansen, pioneer in wind power
Reinhard Christiansen is the best person to ask about green electricity. By the late 1980s, he had already made significant contributions to wind power in Germany. In 1995, he started designing the first wind farm together with the other people in Ellhöft, a village with a population of 113. After getting the farm running in … Read more

SOLIDpower partners with Microsoft
While SOLIDpower’s core business is the supply of energy to residential and commercial buildings, it has recently branched out into IT. As a German-Italian manufacturer of high-temperature fuel cells, it will now provide units to businesses that need to keep servers running. The most well-known partner it has signed a cooperation agreement with is Microsoft. … Read more

China shines in fuel cell industry review
At the beginning of December, market data and analyses for the fuel cell industry were published by E4tech in The Fuel Cell Industry Review 2017. E4tech is an international consultancy that has been providing insight into the hydrogen and fuel cell industry since 2014. To prepare the review, a team at E4tech contacts fuel cell … Read more

Japan: Forcing the SOFC technology
In December 2017, there were 91 public hydrogen refueling stations operating in Japan, with another 10 in development, putting the country well on its way to its short-term goal of 160 by 2020. The deployment of stations has been one of Japan’s hydrogen success stories, despite daunting costs and a lack of initial demand.… Read more

Fuel cell use in the logistics industry
The good news is that fuel cells for materials handling equipment are no longer confined to a niche market. Entire warehouses in North America are currently being served by hydrogen-powered forklift trucks. This type of fuel cell application is also becoming increasingly popular in Asia and Europe, but their logistics industries will have some catching … Read more

Fuel cell mail – powered by Deutsche Post
StreetScooter’s battery vehicles have already proven to be a cost-effective solution for day-to-day operations in the mailing industry. Now, the business based in Aachen, Germany, is planning its next move. With the help of the city’s university of applied sciences, it has designed a fuel cell vehicle that can go up to 500 kilometers, or … Read more

Avid interest in fuel cell trains
Fuel cell offerings for rolling stock are gaining traction these days. The number of regions debating investments in fuel cell trains is steadily growing. During a Nov. 9 press conference last year, Alstom – Europe’s only supplier of rolling stock powered by the technology – held a press conference in Wolfsburg to boost demand even … Read more

Fuel cell carsharing – fleet operators go electric
The main group of customers currently driving demand for electric as well as hydrogen vehicles isn’t consumers but fleet operators. One prominent example is BeeZero, a Linde subsidiary. In April 2016, it became the first carpooling service in Germany to add 50 Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles to its task force in Munich. … Read more

Mayors searching for fuel cell buses
If there was one thing that the Diesel Summit made abundantly clear, it was the lack of zero-emission, or even low-emission, cars on the German market. The 28 mayors who met with interim chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Nov. 28, 2017, were faced with a dilemma. They would like to purchase electric buses and promote … Read more

NewBusFuel – economically sustainable hydrogen supply
Fuel cell buses have many advantages over their diesel counterparts, making them an attractive option for mass transit companies. A few examples are the complete absence of local emissions, the greater flexibility in choosing a primary energy carrier and, depending on the source of the hydrogen and the use of renewables, considerable potential for reducing … Read more

Fuel cell workhorses in heavy-duty applications
The hydrogen and fuel cell units deployed in heavy-duty applications have been mostly test systems for onboard energy supply. Even those systems are far from being finished products. The shared opinion among research and development laboratories is that the technologies could be used to power cars and trucks, but only up to a certain weight … Read more

Hydrogen as Option for Heavy-Duty Transport
WaterstofNet, a non-profit organisation operating in Flanders and the Netherlands which develops sustainable hydrogen projects, has embarked on its H2-Share project. H2-Share stands for Hydrogen Solutions for Heavy-duty transport Aimed at Reduction of Emissions in North-West Europe. The project will run until March 2020 and its objective is to facilitate the development… Read more

Fuel cells to heat and power entire residential area
Langweid am Lech is the first-ever place in Germany where residential fuel cells will meet all energy needs. Regional energy utility Erdgas Schwaben, based in Augsburg, has joined forces with developer Michael Dumberger and heating system supplier Viessmann to install Panasonic fuel cells in each of the 62 duplex and row houses under construction in … Read more

Leading companies consider ees Europe the premier exhibition in its field. It has plenty to offer start-ups in the energy storage sector too – for example, the chance to present the shared booth sponsored by the German ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy or in the expanded exhibition segment H2, Power-to Gas and Fuel Cells.